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Defense: Lowell murder suspect depressed

By Lisa Redmond, lredmond@lowellsun.com

Updated:
12/11/2012 06:34:25 AM EST

LOWELL -- In the hours and days after his wife of 30 years was bludgeoned to death, The Ngoc Tran allegedly admitted to everyone he encountered -- family, friends, the police -- that he murdered his wife.

But in a battle of mental-health experts, defense-paid psychologist Dr. Henry Nields told the jury at Lowell Superior Court Tran suffered from ongoing depression and saw no other solution to his bleak situation -- dire finances and a wife who didn't respect him -- other than killing his wife Son Tran, 60, and then committing suicide on April 28, 2011.

Tran, 64, is charged with first-degree murder.

Tran was allegedly successful at murdering his wife -- bludgeoning her to death with a rubber mallet in the bathroom of their Lowell home -- but botched his own electrocution. He ended up with a burn on his finger. Son Tran died of blunt trauma to her head.

After a weeklong trial, testimony concluded Monday and closing arguments are scheduled for today, followed by jury deliberations.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Tran faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

During testimony Monday, prosecution-paid psychiatrist Dr. Martin Kelly testified that after evaluating Tran, he concluded Tran did not have a mental impairment that would have prevented him from knowing right from wrong and understanding the consequences of his actions.

Kelly referenced Tran's five-page suicide letter in which he explains to his four children that he believed his wife didn't respect him and that she was "poisoning'' his children against him.

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In the letter, he "made plans'' to provide his youngest daughter with financial resources, Kelly said.

When asked if Tran had a mental disease related to depression, Kelly testified Tran had "unhappy circumstances'' and "tunnel vision'' in which he wouldn't consider other ways to resolve the issues in his life.

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